What is Bobotie?

This is a Dutch recipe that originates from the Indonesian dish Bobotok.

The recipe first shows up in a Dutch cookbook dating to 1609 and was introduced in South Africa by Dutch settlers and subsequently adopted by the Cape Malay community.

The curry gives it a slight tang and it is often served with typical curry accompaniments and spicy Sambal and/or peach chutney (spicy or plain).

An interesting fact is that the 2008 Master’s golf tournament winner hailing from South Africa, Trevor Immelman, selected Bobotie as the featured menu item for Augusta National’s annual “Champions Dinner” held in April 2009. The tradition is that the reigning champion from the prior year’s Masters tournament played every year in Augusta Georgia, hosts the dinner and usually creates a menu with special delicacies from his home region.

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 30g unsalted butter
• 3 slices of white bread
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 1 apple, peeled, diced
• 1kg beef mince
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs
• 2 tablespoons mild curry powder
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1/2 cup (125ml) milk
• 6 bay leaves
• salt and cracked black pepper to taste (e.g. 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper)
• optional: a couple of tablespoons of chutney (preferably Mrs. Ball’s peach chutney) or apricot jam

Instruction:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175 C).

2. Place the milk in a shallow dish. Soak the bread in the milk. Squeeze the excess milk from the bread. Set the milk aside. Add the bread to the beef mixture.
   

3. Heat oil and butter in a pan over medium heat, add onion and cook for 2-3 minutes or until soft. Add apple and cook for 2 minutes. Add mince/bread mixture and cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes until browned. Stir in 1 egg, curry powder, raisins, salt & pepper and lemon juice. Optional – stir in chutney or apricot jam.

4. Pour into a rectangle shallow baking dish (e.g. 20 x 30cm) or cast iron pot. Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour.

5. Beat together remaining egg, turmeric and milk (that was set aside). Remove dish from oven, discard foil, and pour egg mixture over top. Layer on bay leaves and bake for a further 20-25 minutes or until golden.

Best served with Mrs Balls peach chutney and yellow rice ( known as “geelrys” it is made with turmeric and bit a cinnamon).

Below is a cool somewhat unusual video of renowned South African chef Dumi Ndlovu (he also designed KLM airlines’  African food menu) cooking Bobotie outdoors at a private game reserve in South Africa. His recipe is a little more complicated than the one above (never mind digging out a pit for an outdoor oven in the bushveld!) but shows that you can vary the ingredients to your taste.

Watch this cool video of top South African Chef Dumi making a traditional Bobotie dish in the South African Bushveld:

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